


Fan Friction

by cyborgharpy, Enterprisingly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AKA: Play To Waffle, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background GingerPilot, Can be read as an AU of Play To Win or as a Stand Alone Oneshot, Conventions, Cosplay, Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, Fanfic Author Rey, Humor, M/M, Meta Like WHOA, Poor Life Choices, Porn With Plot, Rated E for eSports and Basically Everything Else, Reddit Mod Ben Solo, Romance, Silencer/Millennia makes it's grand return, Social Media, Waffle House, background finnrose - Freeform, eSports, reddit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 12:26:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17080310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyborgharpy/pseuds/cyborgharpy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enterprisingly/pseuds/Enterprisingly
Summary: Ben Solo meets his online arch rival, Rey Sanderson in a Waffle House on the third night of Dragon*Con.The fact that two people attending Dragon*Con end up at the same Waffle House isn'tterriblysurprising, given that there's really only one within walking distance of the convention and at 2:30 AM after three straight days of partying and con-going, there are very few places that make more sense for drunk nerds to end up.The fact thatthey– that is, Ben Solo (aka the r/StarKiller mod known as KyloRen) and Rey Sanderson (aka reddit user ReyOfLight, the eternal and yet un-bannable thorn in his side) end up at thesameWaffle House at theexact sametime is really just a comedy of errors.(A Play To Win Waffle House AU in which instead of being professional gamers, Ben and Rey are just your average nerds who hate each other online until a fateful encounter during Dragon*Con brings them closer than they ever thought possible.)





	Fan Friction

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Play To Win](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13535535) by [Enterprisingly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enterprisingly/pseuds/Enterprisingly). 



> For @PoppiWillow on Twitter whose love of Waffle House broughght about the most hilarious confluence of twitter events I've ever seen that ended with the official Waffle House Twitter officially declaring themselves Reylo's. Sunni's mother just passed following a long fight against cancer so this is a gift to help ease the pain.
> 
> This fic is also brought to you by my deeply Southern upbringing combined with residual PTW feelings from just having finished the epilogue on that fic, and the fact that I was lucky enough to end up with a writing partner like Cyborgharpy who knows Reddit like the back of her hands and was willing to write a whole, hilarious and brilliant thread for this story, along with betaing and editing my typo filled disaster mess into something legible.

Ben Solo meets his online arch rival, Rey Sanderson in a Waffle House on the third night of Dragon*Con.

The fact that two people attending Dragon*Con end up at the same Waffle House isn’t _terribly_ surprising, given that there’s really only one within walking distance of the convention and at 2:30 AM after three straight days of partying and con-going, there are very few places that make more sense for drunk nerds to end up.

The fact that _they_ – that is, Ben Solo (aka the r/StarKiller mod known as KyloRen) and Rey Sanderson (aka reddit user ReyOfLight, the eternal and yet un-bannable thorn in his side) end up at the _same_ Waffle House at the _exact same_ time is really just a comedy of errors.

Even at this hour, the Waffle House is hopping, with a mix of cosplayers, geeky revelers, and what Ben assumes must be this establishment's average clientele – people who were at nearby bars right up until said bars closed and kicked them out. No one really seems to mind the bizarrely-dressed newcomers, busy as they are with their own food and drunken shenanigans. It’s a perfect place for people from all walks of life to come and fondly regret all of their choices while consuming what they hope will be enough food to stave off a serious hangover in the morning. So it’s not like this meeting is the _least_ likely scenario in the world.

It’s just the most unfortunate one.

The worst part is that Ben doesn’t even realize what’s happened until after he, Hux, Phasma, and Mitaka have waited in line for a booth, been seated by a friendly waitress, and placed their orders for a truly impressive amount of food per person.

Just getting to the Waffle House in the first place was no minor undertaking, seeing as how it involved the four of them putting together their last remaining sober brain cells to leave the convention, navigate through the eight thousand different Peachtree Streets that makeup downtown Atlanta, and actually locate the Waffle House without ending up lost somewhere in Little Five Points.

All of which is to say that by the time Ben realizes who is sitting in the booth directly behind him, he and his companions are not in _any_ shape to be going anywhere else for a good long while.

“Oh come on,” Ben hears a guy whine, “Rey are you _really_ writing fanfiction on your phone _right now_? At the _Waffle House_?”

The name ‘Rey’ pings in Ben’s brain, like a little shock of static electricity, along with that dreaded word: _fanfiction_.

 _It can’t be,_ he thinks, _that would be too much of a coincidence._

The speaker sounds so affronted by the concept, as if this Rey person is committing some form of grave sacrilege by penning fanfiction in this establishment, that Ben is strongly reminded of the times when his mother would tell him off for playing on his Gameboy at Synagogue.

“And what’s it to you if I am?” Replies Rey, who as it turns out, is a girl with a posh British accent. “My readers have needs! I can’t leave them hanging just because I’m at a con! Besides I was just getting to the good part of this fic where Silencer has finally removed his helmet in front of Milly for the first time and –”

“Oh no,” groans another male voice, this one laced with humor, even with his back turned, “Here she goes again, good job Finn. Now we’re going to have to sit through a live reading of her latest Silennia fanfic. You know it’s better to just let her do her thing when she’s on a roll!”

“Ignore these clowns, Rey!” Says mystery voice number four – a little slurry, definitely female. “And you two… shhhhhhh! Let the goddess of Silennia shippers work her magic! You both sound like a couple of _KyloRen_ ’s right now.”

That statement elicits a rackous bout of whooping laughter and fake gagging from the whole table.

And just like that, all of the pieces click into place.

Because _yup_ , as it turns out, Ben really just _is_ that unlucky.

Somehow all the dark forces in this god-forsaken universe have conspired to stick him in a fucking Waffle House booth, back-to-back with the girl he’s been fighting with on the internet for the last two years.

 _Fuck my whole life,_ Ben thinks.

“What?” Hux, Phasma, and Mitaka all respond in unison.

Ben blinks, realizing that he’s spoken the expletive aloud.

“I just… I want my fucking food,” he says, scrambling for an explanation for his outburst while he has a silent panic attack.

Hux gives him a weird look, as he leans back in his seat. He's dressed in a black StarKiller t-shirt with the silhouette of his favorite hero, Executor, printed on it in a shade of crimson that clashes horribly with his brilliant orange hair. He looks rough; it’s clear that at this point, all of the non-stop partying is beginning to wear on him and he’s got bags under his eyes big enough to pack all of his newly purchased swag in for the trip home.

“Like two seconds ago you were complaining that you don’t even _like_ eating breakfast food when it’s not breakfast time,” The ginger man says pointedly.

“I don’t,” Ben insists. “Which is why I got a steak.”

“Not gettin breakfast at Waffle House makes you a monster,” Mitaka slurs at him, lifting his head slightly up off from where he’s been laying on the table, face pillowed in his crossed arms (though how that’s _at all_ comfortable for him, Ben cannot fathom). Mitaka is still wearing his lovingly crafted Phoenix costume that’s a little worse for the wear from being at the convention all day. His chest-plate is beginning to come apart a bit and the paint is chipping on one of his red gauntlets.

Mitaka’s dark hair is also sticking up at all sorts of odd angles and there are impressions on his face from where his cheek has been resting on his hard, plastic gauntlets.

“Erryone likes breakfast all the time. ‘S good.” Mitaka mumbles before putting his face down on his arms once more.

“Well _I_ don't. And it doesn't make me a monster, it just makes me a person who likes to eat breakfast at _a reasonable time_ and not just _whenever_ like some kind of –”

“You are in the holiest house of The All Day Breakfast, Ben,” interrupts Phasma – who looks fucking _pristine_ as always – with no small amount of menace. She is somehow as unrumpled as when they’d stepped out on the con floor earlier that morning in her Dreadnaught armor, without so much as a single strand of her short-cropped platinum hair out of place. “Are you sure you want to finish that sentence?”

And what _is it_ with people and acting like the Waffle House is some sort of religious establishment around here? Maybe it’s a Southerner thing and Ben, ever the stereotypical New Yorker, just doesn’t fucking get it.

“Isn’t this place supposed to be like… fast, or whatever?” Ben snaps, trying to derail the conversation he initiated to derail _another_ conversation in the first place, as he shifts uncomfortably in his Silencer costume. His armor is starting to cut off his circulation around his knees and elbows now that he's sitting down, in a way that he had not really accounted for when he was putting the outfit together.

“You know,” says Rey, “I’m actually a little surprised that Ren’s been quiet this weekend. The new Silencer cinematic they dropped on Friday was pretty heavy on all that redemption arc subtext that he’s always claiming is just ‘women imagining things because they want to fuck the damaged bad boy’ and he hasn’t even bothered to come threaten to ban me for my latest meta post.”

He can _hear_ the loathing in her voice and it makes him bristle. He grabs hold of his fork and knife and holds them very tightly just so that he has _anything_ to do with his hands.

He’d seen her post _of course_ , while he was standing in line for an autograph with Adam Driver, the guy who voices the character in question. But Ben hadn’t been able to think well enough in the chaos of the con hall to come up with a coherent rebuttal to the pile of garbage that she had dumped onto his nice, orderly Subreddit, so he’d just downvoted her and put a pin in that line of thought with plans to come back later and thoroughly tear her assessment apart.

Of course, he hadn’t gotten around to it yet because he and his friends had fallen in with a roving crowd of StarKiller fans and wound up partying their way through the Hyatt for the next twenty-odd hours.

“Maybe Ren’s finally seeing the light!” says the girl who is _not_ Rey, very loudly.

It’s a fucking _miracle_ (or maybe the booze) but somehow it seems that Ben’s friends have gotten distracted by a new group of Ancient Order cosplayers who have just walked in the door and still haven’t noticed that the people sitting _right behind them_ are literally talking shit about Ben.

“Maybe he’s dead,” says the man who Ben thinks might be named Finn, and he sounds so _cheerful_ about the prospect that Ben’s eye twitches.

“God, if _only_ ,” says Rey, and nope. Ben can’t take it anymore.

He drops his utensils onto the table with a clatter, and turns fully around in the booth, climbing up onto his knees to hold onto the wooden divider that separates their two tables, so that he can glare down at the group behind him.

“Or _maybe_ ,” Ben snaps, “he’s too busy having a good time at a convention to give a shit about your stupid shipper garbage.”

Amongst the din of the Waffle House, dead silence falls across both tables.

As he looms over the divider, Ben suddenly finds himself seeing eye to eye, for the first time ever, with the biggest pain in his ass that he’s ever had the misfortune of knowing.

ReyOfLight, as it turns out, is not the bored, middle aged housewife (or worse, a greasy, pimply teenager) who he’d been picturing this whole time. As it turns out, she’s a pretty ( _fucking_ stunning _,_ his brain supplies unhelpfully) brunette girl, with a healthy tan and enormous hazel eyes. She is also dressed in the most perfect suit of Millenia’s classic silver armor that Ben has ever received. In her hands, she holds an iPhone with a cracked screen, currently showing a very long Google Doc that she’s clearly been typing away at for quite some time.

Ben takes a quick second to scan the rest of the table’s occupants (mostly to force himself to stop _staring at Rey_ like a fucking psychopath), trying to get a lay of the battlefield before him.

Sitting besides his nemesis is a well-built, dark-skinned man with close-cropped curly hair, wearing what looks like the under layers of Fang’s Tactical Suit. He has his head tipped back up and over in order to give Ben the best death glare that he’s ever seen. Honestly if looks could kill, Ben would be toast on the spot.

Across from them sit another male and female pair: a pretty Asian girl dressed in Solara’s Beach Party Summer outfit, and a tall Latino man with artfully tousled brown hair who Ben actually fucking _recognizes_ as Poe Dameron, aka one of the guys he’d played with in a StarKiller tournament at New York Comic Con last year. Poe is the only person not in cosplay, but he more than makes up for his lack of interesting attire with the wild array of expressions that pass over his face so quickly it’s almost dizzying to look at.

Poe, as it turns out, speaks first.

“Well, this is awkward,” he says.

And then all hell breaks loose.

 

* * *

  

> r/Starkiller · Posted by u/MTKA · 4 days ago
> 
> ### Concept art for Battle on Bespin DLC mainplay shows an interesting development between Mil ‘n Sil **[Leaks!]**
> 
> #### ▲16 ▼ [ ] 30 ↑Share *Award
> 
> **This thread has been locked by the moderators of r/starkiller**
> 
> New comments cannot be posted
> 
> [-] phastasm · 4d
> 
> That title is pure bait.
> 
> . . . ←Reply ▲ 77 ▼
> 
> [-] testor · 4d
> 
> Misleading much? This broke on Twitter like a day ago. It’s just opposite-side reskins for the characters for next season. *jerking off motion*
> 
> . . . ←Reply ▲ 64 ▼  
> 
> [-] poehotdameron · 4d
> 
> I’m so tired of hearing about Silencer he’s such an overhyped piece of trash. Far Galaxy needs to nerf Shadow Shroud before I’ll give a fuck. Milly getting a dark backstory is yesterday’s news. u/ReyofLight wrote about that like 2 years ago.
> 
> . . . ←Reply ▲ 41 ▼
> 
> [-] FN-2187· 2d
> 
> Fang is already confirmed as the hottest beefcake on the team. Let the ladies enjoy speculating on what’s under Silencer’s mask, you know. ;)
> 
> . . . ←Reply ▲ 25 ▼
>
>> [-] poehotdameron· 2d
>
>> When I’m still wondering what’s under Fang’s armor . . .?
>
>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 18 ▼
>>
>>> [-] phastasm · 2d
>>
>>> Get a room, you two.
>>
>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 15 ▼
>>>
>>>> [-] poehotdameron· 2d
>>>
>>>> We can undress Executor while we’re at it.
>>>
>>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 8 ▼
>>>>
>>>>> [-] GenerallyHux · 2d
>>>>
>>>>> Can you not.
>>>>
>>>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 5 ▼
>>>>>
>>>>>> [-] poehotdameron · 1d
>>>>>
>>>>>> Can’t I?
>>>>>
>>>>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 2 ▼
>>> 
>>> [-] TicoTock · 1d
>>> 
>>> I have fanart if you’re curious
>>> 
>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 5 ▼
>>>
>>>> [-] poehotdameron· 1d
>>>
>>>> Curious is my middle name
>>>
>>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 45 ▼

 

* * *

 

KyloRen has been the bane of Rey’s online existence for the last two years. Ever since she got involved with the internet fandom for her favorite game, StarKiller, he’s dogged her every step on Reddit, Twitter, and even the Far Galaxy forums, generally being a contradictory wanker and an elitist asshole.

KyloRen is the sort of militant, gatekeeping fanboy who clearly sees it as his sworn duty to uphold the ‘canon’ of his chosen IP like some sort of sacred text and to make fandom miserable for anyone who has a different interpretation of it than he does. He’s  _clearly_ a textbook misogynist, a toxic man baby, an entitled fuckboy and…

...he’s sitting right _fucking behind her in the Dragon*Con Waffle House._

 _How is this even happening?_ Rey wonders in despair as she looks up (and up, and _up_ because _good lord_ he’s fucking _huge_ ) into KyloRen’s dark, furious eyes.

“Well, this is awkward,” says Poe, and all Rey can do is sit there in dumbfounded silence, thinking ‘ _no shit_ ’.

Of all the Waffle Houses in all the world… how in the everloving hell have they both wound up in this one at the same time?

Someone a few tables over starts singing the theme song from Serenity and _just like that_ , Rey snaps back and finds all of her faculties back under her control. She turns around in her own seat, climbing up to kneel on the booth as well, so that she’s no longer straining her neck and is instead nearly nose to nose with Ren. She crosses her arms and glares right back into his face.

“Or _maybe_ ,” she spits at him, “KyloRen’s such a massive, bloody prick that he doesn’t _deserve_ to enjoy nice things. Like conventions. Or Waffle House.”

Rey's lips curl back in a sneer.

“After all, you’re so fond of ruining everyone else’s fun, maybe it’s your turn to enjoy a taste of your own medicine!” She says triumphantly, leaning in just slightly, which has the thoroughly satisfying result of making Ren flinch away from her.

This is when she gets her first real, good look at him.

He’s not exactly what most people would think of as ‘handsome’, but he’s not the cave-dwelling, mouth-breathing neckbeard that she would have pegged him as either.

Ren has a long face, with a prominent nose and a full, sensitive mouth that shouldn’t work with the rest of his features but totally does. He also has a pair of sharp, dark eyes and black hair worn a little longer than is fashionable, but again – _it works for him_ , she’s forced to admit with no small amount of irritation.

He’s also _huge_. Like so big that he makes Rey feel like she’s about five feet tall. Impressive given that she’s not exactly short of stature herself. She’s also bitterly forced to admit to that the Silencer get-up he’s dressed in doesn’t look too shabby either, though she has strong suspicions that all the cloth parts were ordered from somewhere online because no one who has as much free time to debate strangers on the internet also has the time to learn how to sew like that.

Not to mention the mental image of him hunched over a sewing machine, trying to push fabric through the feet and needle with his massive, ham hands is almost laughable enough to crack through her rage.

They remain frozen in a cold war stare-down for a few more seconds, sizing each other up and trying to figure out what exactly comes next, now that they’re both aware of what is happening in this Waffle House.

 _What’s it gonna be?_ Rey wonders, _Shouting match? Knock down, drag out brawl? Re-enactment of the last StarKiller tournament where the First Order’s Silencer Striker had been trounced by the Resistance’s Millennia? Or will it just be an angry twitter feud while we sit here in silence?_

It’s at this point that everyone around Rey and Ren comes to life and enters the fray.

“Ben, what the fuck?” The weedy ginger at Ren’s table is shouting, while, Finn and Poe both begin yelling at Ren to sit down and get away from Rey.

“Yellin’s rude, Hux,” mutters the guy who’s sleeping on Ben’s table.

“We were here first!” Rose chimes in, “Go find your own Waffle House!”

“No fucking way,” the massive blonde woman at the other table growls back, “I’ve got two servings of smothered hash browns and bacon coming my way and I’m not going _anywhere_ until I’ve eaten them both.”

“I don’t see any food in front of you assholes, either,” Ben says, leaning over to glance around Rey at the empty tabletop, “so if you guys have such a fucking problem with us being here, why don’t you pack it in and go somewhere else?”

“Not on your life,” Rey says, suddenly feeling very territorial and unwilling to yield so much as an inch of space to the bastard who is _eternally_ trying to oust her from every single place where they cross paths.

“We’re gonna stay right here,” she tells him, “and you can just _sit and spin_ if you don’t like it.”

Ren – or Ben, as it would seem he’s actually named in real life – flushes red with irritation to the tips of his large ears.

Ben opens his mouth, presumably to fire back, but he doesn’t get the chance. A pretty waitress with an abundance of blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail wearing a name tag that reads ‘Sunni’, appears next to their tables with a pair of heavily laden serving trays, which she is balancing with superhuman ease.

“Alright, let’s see what we’ve got here!” she says, utterly ignoring the fact that everyone in the booths is frozen in mid-action like some sort of post-modern recreation of a renaissance painting.

“We’ve got a double stack of waffles with whipped cream,” she says, placing the trays on the empty table across the aisle from them before setting the waffles in question in front of the sleepy guy. Two servings of hash browns and bacon go to the tall woman, an egg white omelette and wheat toast go to the angry redhead, who must be by power of deduction, that asshole Hux, and a very rare sirloin steak is placed at Ben’s place with absolutely no ceremony.

Then it’s their table’s turn to be covered in food.

“Who’s got the two ‘All Stars’?” Sunni asks, prompting Finn and Rose to both raise their hands, without breaking eye contact with their rivals.

Poe gets a triple hash brown (“topped _and_ peppered, as requested,” the waitress tells him brightly) before, finally, Rey’s peanut butter and chocolate chip waffle is plonked down in front of her.

“Well! I believe that’s everything! Enjoy and I’ll be back round to refill waters in just a bit,” Sunni beams around at all of them, collecting her trays and bustling back off to the kitchen.

“So…” Rey says, as soon as they’re left to their own devices once more, glancing around at all the steaming hot, delicious looking food that’s now singing it’s siren song from both of their tables. She can already feel her mouth beginning to water at the prospect of biting into her waffle.

She swallows, brows drawing into a frown.

“So no one’s leaving.” She means it as a question but quite honestly it comes out as a resigned statement.

“Nope,” Ben says, matching her glare for glare.

She wants to say something else but before she can think of a clever retort, the previously sleeping member of Ben’s party finally sits up, looks around, and takes notice of the fact that Rey and her friends are wearing costumes as well.

“Hey!” He says, “Look guys! I’s’more StarKiller cosplayers!”

“Mitaka?” Rose asks, delighted.

“Rose! Finn! You… you’re in the Waffle House!” Mitaka says, wriggling around so that he’s kneeling next to Ben on the booth, beaming dopily at Rey’s _traitorous_ friends who are apparently on speaking terms with part of _KyloRen’s entourage_.

“Yeah man! Your Phoenix suit looks bomb in person, by the way,” Finn says. “I saw your build posts on Twitter, great job!”

At which point, things begin moving way too fast for Rey to keep up with. Suddenly everyone is shuffling places and moving around like they’re playing some sort of deranged game of musical chairs with breakfast food for added difficulty.

Finn and Rose grab their plates and scamper over to sit at the empty table where Sunni had set the trays before, and Mitaka shoves past Ben to join them (waffle stack in hand). And before Rey can so much as blink, those three are long gone, embroiled in some sort of deep, drunken conversation about building armor out of EVA foam vs Worbla.

Poe for his part, takes one look at Hux, whose expression is just shy of nuclear and gets a look on his own face that Rey recognizes well enough to be reasonably afraid. Someone’s going to end up dead. Or arrested. Or both.

“Hey Hugs,” Poe calls, as he, too, abandons Rey’s table to slide into the newly empty seat besides Ben. “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

Hux’s eyes go wide with one-part horror and one-part deep, _deep_ regret and Rey would be willing to bet literally any amount of money that Poe does in fact know Hux from _plenty_ of places, most of them decidedly not appropriate topics of conversation for a Waffle House.

The tall blonde whose name Rey _still_ hasn’t managed to catch, seems to pick up on the weird vibe between Hux and Poe because she angles her body to watch the two men interact with an eyebrow raised in keen interest while she continues to shovel food into her mouth like she hasn’t eaten in a year.

And just like that, Rey finds herself all alone at her table, still kneeling on the bench, _still_ staring at Ben, who is _also_ still kneeling and glaring.

The giant woman looks up briefly from inhaling sausages and watching Poe lean _way_ too far forwards across the table for anyone’s comfort and says:

“Solo, if you’re gonna insist on keeping your weird internet feud going in real life, then go do it over there and stop ruining the atmosphere for everyone else. Or take it to the parking lot so I can enjoy my meal in peace.”

There’s a beat where Rey legitimately doesn’t know how this is all going to play out, and then – _and then_ – Kylo- _fucking_ -Ren is suddenly sliding into the booth across from her, slamming his plate onto the tabletop with such frustrated anger that Rey’s a little concerned that it's going to shatter on impact.

Thankfully, the Waffle House’s tableware is apparently made of sturdy stuff.

With a great deal of trepidation, Rey turns back around and gets off of her knees to sit on the bench like a civilized human being, all the while watching Ben like a wild animal who might suddenly decide to lash out.

“So,” she says for what feels like the ninth time in a row (because _what else do you say to your internet arch rival,_ she thinks helplessly _, they don’t teach you this shit in school!), “We meet at last.”_

Ben cuts angrily into his steak and doesn’t respond.

 _Tosser,_ Rey thinks, bitterly, as she grabs a carafe of syrup, pours a generous dollop onto her plate, and then proceeds to rip a quarter of her waffle free with her bare hands.

She folds the triangle up, sandwiching the sugary-sweet peanut butter and chocolate chips in the center of the fluffy, perfectly cooked waffle, swipes the whole thing through her syrup pool, and bites into it with a vengeance.

When she finally looks up from her plate Ben is staring at her, lips curled slightly in disgust.

She grins viciously at him and takes another bite. He might have spoiled everything else about the night, but not even _KyloRen_ can ruin this perfect waffle for her.

 

* * *

  

> [-] ReyofLight · 4d
> 
> Oh my god Mits bless you, this is such a fantastic find. Compare it with the 2015 E3 trailer where they showed Millennia’s mainframe in the background and it was displaying a dossier with Silencer’s pre-story picture and armor (white and gray?!?). This was before Jakku so we knew she had to have had a personal reason for pursuing him to The Archon Starfield. That timeline is now CONFIRMED. Here’s a link to the essay post I wrote last year on this, before the Far Galaxy story group alluded in interviews that they were going in that direction with the new content.
> 
> . . . ←Reply ▲ 34 ▼
>
>> [-] **KyloRen** ⬟ · **Mod - HunterKiller** · 3d
>> 
>> I remember this essay from when it was published and while it makes some good points you are clearly misreading Silencer’s character. Lor San Tekka’s _Before The Fall_ novelization goes into the details of his face-heel-turn on Chandrila, where it’s explicit that he was directly responsible for the deaths of children in the attacks and wasn’t coming back. This quote specifically after he sustained his injuries:
>> 
>> "“ _And you rage and scream and reach to crush the shadow who has destroyed you, but you are so far less now than what you were, you are more than half machine, you are like a painter gone blind, a composer gone deaf, you can remember where the power was but the power you can touch is only a memory, and so with all your world-destroying fury it is only robots around you that implode, and equipment, and the table on which you were strapped shatters, and in the end, you cannot touch the shadow. In the end you don't even want to. In the end, you do not even want to. In the end, the shadow is all you have left. Because the shadow understands you, the shadow forgives you, the shadow gathers you unto itself—And within your furnace heart, you burn in your own flame.”_"
>> 
>> The Silenced comics arc is coming out in Sept. and if you follow the artist @canady on Twitter he’s posted previews of his writing showing that he’s working on a Silencer/Millennia battle that will resolve this conflict. She confronts him for killing her mentor and torturing her friends in the original storyline, and I seem to remember him throwing her into a bunch of burning pillars in the intro gameplay . . . or did you skip past that? Well that same landscape is back, as we’ve seen in the Finalizer On Fire map. Looking forward to seeing how they incorporate the catwalk levels with the structural and worldbuilding changes. I just don’t see her forgiving him after everything, much less Far Galaxy rewarding him with a romance with a strong female character like something out of a cheesy teenage YA flick. This isn’t Twilight.
>> 
>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 96 ▼
>>
>>> [-] phantasm · 1d
>>> 
>>> I’m Team Who The Fuck Gives A Shit.
>>> 
>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 103 ▼
>>> 
>>> [-] ReyofLight · 3d
>>> 
>>> I’ve addressed redemption in these posts here and here but first of all, the romance isn’t a reward??? Calling Milly a Strong Female Character is so reductive, are you sure you’re not writing for the Mary Stu circa 2012? She has a checkered past. The only reason she became a Striker was to make up for her feeling that she had failed to stop the events on Chandrila. Read _Bloodloss_ , you wanker, it’s all there. Oh wait, you did, and then called it trash.
>>> 
>>> You like comics enough: how about the Enjoy the Silence arc where they flashback to Milly’s memories on Bespin and Silencer is there in the very same armor they’re releasing? You know the one, where she imagines him saving her from an army trying to kill her. He spent years as an assassin and every piece of new canon supports his wish not to be that anymore. His arc now is using those abilities to try and save the woman he’s come to love over years of battling it out on multiple worlds with no real conclusion. Do you really think that they haven’t spent 3 years thinking of a cohesive ending for these two? She's going to have a dark turn and he'll be the one to bring her back so that they end up on the same side. I think romance is just a natural conclusion of him working with Millennia to end the conflict that led to her hunting him down in the first place (naturally when they release the team-swap mechanic next season).
>>> 
>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 30 ▼
>>
>>> > [-] **KyloRen** ⬟ · **Mod - HunterKiller** · 3d
>>>
>>>> Millennia would never compromise her Striker’s oath to side with Silencer, much less get close to him (I mean, does he even have the equipment necessary under all those body modifications?). He’s an interesting and complex villain and that’s what makes him so compelling. It would ruin his character if he turned out to be some kind of morally-gray anti-hero who everyone accepts as OK after terrorizing them for years. I don’t understand the fandom obsession with woobifying his character into something that he’s not when he deliberately chose to turn away from the good guys. **Also please don’t make me remind you, again, of the sub rules for spec posts.** You can talk about leaks and spoilers but we have a strict policy against fan-fiction.
>>>
>>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 45 ▼
>>
>>> [-] GenerallyHux · 2d
>>> 
>>> Don’t try reasoning with them when they have their shipping goggles on.
>>> 
>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 0 ▼
>> 
>> [-] GenerallyHux · 3d
>> 
>> “ **Come to love?”** are you #$@ing serious!? Like Ren just said he killed KIDS. Executor doesn’t get treated like this in canon because she doesn’t have your stupid hero self-insert you can set her up to fuck.
>> 
>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 4 ▼
>> 
>> [-] TicoTock · 4d
>> 
>> girl I’m losing my shit over that color palette its so symbolic,,, can you imagine? We could get a mask-off scene I’d fuking die
>> 
>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 15 ▼ 

 

* * *

 

So.

ReyOfLight.

Or Rey Sanderson, as the case may be when they're not separated by computer screens.

The fucking harpy bane of his existence. The vapid shipper nightmare who is constantly inserting her blatantly biased and incorrect opinions into every possible place she can find an opening, is sitting across from him, licking syrup off of the fingers of her left hand while she taps away furiously on her phone with the right.

Ben is 99% sure that she’s writing as loudly as fucking possible _right now_ just to spite him.

He’s also like 7812% sure that he’s going to have a goddamn _stroke_ before this night from hell is over. As he looks around the room it becomes clear that, at the very least, he has one bit of common ground with Rey: they are the only two people who are _not_ having a good time in this Waffle House. Even his friends ( _former friends,_ he amends silently) appear to have fallen into something like drunken camaraderie with Rey’s posse.

Poe has procured a bottle of Tapatio hot sauce from _somewhere_ on his person and is forcing Hux to eat hash brown chunks drenched in increasingly frightening amounts of the stuff or else he’ll spill the details of some horrible secret that he’s apparently holding over the ginger idiot’s head to anyone who will listen. Phasma is watching this exchange with all the glee of a snake who sees _two_ mice before her and is just waiting for them to realize that they’re _both_ about to be eaten up.

Mitaka and the energetic boy and girl are in complete hysterics about some ridiculous meme on _someone’s_ phone.

Every other person in this restaurant is having a grand old time, which leaves just him and Rey sitting in stony silence across from each other.

For simple lack of anything _better_ to do, Ben grabs his abused cutlery and begins cutting into his steak. This isn’t exactly a white linen tablecloth establishment but he’s not about to let a good piece of meat go to waste. He does have to force himself not to look at Rey, though. And he can’t tell if that’s because the way she’s eating is honestly nauseating or actually the hottest thing he’s ever seen.

And, hey, that’s a fun surprise; for such an irritating human being, it actually turns out that Rey is _extremely fucking attractive_. Even in a suit of lightweight tactical silver, Ben can tell that she’s built like a dancer – long and willowy – and she has the sort of face that belongs on like… a really pretty, popular girl. Like a pro streamers with a legion of fanboys and white knights all ready to throw themselves on whatever swords are available in the name of her honor.

She does not look like the kind of girl who should be spending all her time fantasizing about a fictional (and _completely implausible_ ) relationship between two video game characters.

“Okay what the fuck,” he says, finally, with such vehemence that Rey looks up from her phone, startled.

“Yes?” She replies, dryly.

“What are you even writing?” he asks, balling up a paper napkin and tossing it down on the table in frustration.

Rey gives him a droll little shrug and a flat, unamused smile.

“Oh, you know,” she says, before turning her phone around and holding it right in his face so that he gets an eyeful of words like “Millennia” and “Silencer” and “penetration” and “tongues battling for dominance” before he’s able to bat the phone away.

“Just some of my _fanfiction_ that you _hate so much_ ,” she spits at him, pulling her phone back over to her side of the table, “Which, you should be aware is A: something completely different from the meta posts that I make on reddit which are purely speculative in nature and come from my deep understanding of storytelling and common tropes in popular media, and B: not any less valid than any of your 'spec' bullshit, just because it’s a medium powered predominantly by female sexuality.”

Her eyes flash with a sort of steely self assurance that takes Ben aback just a bit.

“Listen,” Ben says, trying to regain some control of both this interaction and his skyrocketing heart rate, which is now going fast enough to worry him. Something about knowing that the super hot, super angry girl in front of him is _actively_ writing porn in public is short-circuiting his brain.

“I’m not… I don’t… you can write whatever you want,” he finally manages to sputter out, “All I’m saying is that the StarKiller subreddit is a place for _fact-based_ analysis only and –”

“Why do you get to dictate what the facts are?” Rey cuts him off, taking another bite of her waffle monstrosity. “Do you like secretly work for Far Galaxy or something?”

“Well no-” Ben says as he wonders _is this what drowning feels like_?

“Yeah, didn’t think so,” she continues. “You might be a mod on the subreddit but you’re still just a fan like the rest of us and you don’t have any sort of special insider information so really, _you_ should just shut the fuck up and stop hampering any signs of healthy discussion that might crop up on there _by accident_.”

She pops the last bite of her waffle into her mouth and begins licking syrup off her fingers. _Again_. Something strange is happening under the layers of uncomfortable black foam gripping Ben's torso.

“Especially considering that I’ve technically been right about more official story beats than you have. I should know: since you started riding my ass, I decided to start keeping score. In fact, I predicted the twist with Milly having failed her mission on Chandrila in the fic I wrote last October, almost six months before they even _released_ that cinematic,” Rey says with a smirk.

At that brazen claim, Ben actually snorts.

“Yeah _fucking_ right,” he says, leaning back in the booth, shaking his head.

She shrugs, easy and casual like she just doesn’t _give a shit_.

“You can look it up,” Rey tells him, “right now. Go to Archive of Our Own and search for my handle ‘ReyOfLight’. The story is called ‘Last One Out Hits the Lights’ and it’s the most popular fic for the whole Silennia pairing. Because I was _right_ about them from the start.”

And Ben really, _really_ wants to go back to eating his fucking steak in silence and pretending that this night isn’t happening, but the things that she’s saying are just so _outlandish_ that he’s compelled to investigate the veracity of her statements.

So he pulls his phone out of the pocket on the tactical belt that Mitaka had helped him rig together in the hotel room so he’d have somewhere to stash the thing all day, and opens up a fanfiction website for the first time in his whole damn life.

As it turns out, Rey’s account is more than easy enough to track down just by Google searching her handle. And her story is _indeed popular_. Judging by whatever a ‘kudos’ is, there are an alarmingly high number of people who like this crazy story that she’s cooked up. The mod in him wants to read the comments, just to be sure it’s actually good.

“So…” Ben says slowly, eyebrows raising towards his hairline, “You wrote this last _year_ before the Chandrila cinematic had dropped… and twelve _thousand_ people uh… upvoted it?”

“That’s about the long and short of it,” Rey says, as she continues tapping away on the pornographic _thing_ she’s concocting right now.

Ben looks closer at the story on his screen. Title and author name in dark red. Little colorful boxes next to them indicating story rating and… other things he can’t even hazard a guess at. Tags.

Tags, Ben understands. He’d stepped foot into Tumblr once before leaving immediately upon the sight of NSFW fanart that had made his stomach flip.

Some of these tags make sense. Like '#speculative canon divergence', '#enemies to allies to lovers', and '#canon-typical violence'. But some of them... some of them are not _at all_ what he expected.

Ben’s eyes go wide as he scans through and encounters '#light bdsm', '#femdom', and –

“What the _fuck_ is ‘#helmet kink’?” He asks, aghast, and loud enough to make someone at a table nearby glance in his direction with a nervous giggle, before he can think the better of opening _that_ particular can of worms.

Rey’s lips curl into a little cat-like grin that should not be making his pants as _tighten_  like this, given the horrifying garbage they’re discussing and the fact that no matter how pretty she is, Rey is still a _fucking gremlin_ smut peddler.

“Oh that?” She responds, innocently, “People in this fandom really just _love it_ when Milly and Sy are too busy _getting busy_ to get their helmets off. Or you know… when one of them makes the other keep it on as like a power thing.”

“Like in my fic?” Rey nods towards Ben’s phone. “I have Millie tie Sy up in order to question him, but things get a little too heated and eventually they just end up fucking their issues out. But because they’re not ready to talk about what this _really_ means yet, she keeps the helmet on him while they’re otherwise totally naked. So obviously that’s an embellishment on the actual scenario in the Chandrila Cinematic, but Millie _did_ tie him up in the Supremacy comic later that year, and you _can’t deny_ that he  _really_ wasn't complaining.”

And at that, the little grin bursts into a full-blown _evil smile_ and Ben’s dick twitches in his pants.

 _Yet another betrayal in this Waffle House_ , Ben thinks bitterly. First his friends and _now_ his own fucking body. He’s losing his goddamn mind. This woman is some sort of witch and she has _most definitely_ cursed him.

“Okay so you’ve proved your point or whatever; you’re picking up context clues and not just making shit up,” he says, somehow actually forcing his dry-as-a-desert mouth to  _form coherent words_. “But I still don’t get it. Why are you so into this? Is it some kind of like… fantasy fulfillment thing because you can’t get any in real life?”

At that, Rey looks up at him and for a split second, Ben thinks he’s about to get punched in the face, but instead, she throws her head back and laughs aloud.

“I do it because it’s _fun_ ,” Rey says, when she’s finally regained some of her composure. “Trust me, I have no trouble in that department. In fact, I bet I could get with anyone in here I wanted to.”

And yep, there’s Ben’s dick again, now throbbing insistently. He swallows dryly.

 _Where the hell is the waitress?_ Ben wonders in something near panic. He could really use that water that she had promised earlier right about now.

Who the _fuck_ is this person? ReyOfLight was supposed to be a disgusting, delusional waste of space… not the hottest girl he’s ever encountered who is essentially giving him an expert level class in erotic public humiliation.

This is _not_ how he saw this night going when he realized who was sitting behind him in the Waffle House.

 

* * *

  

> [-] GenerallyHux · 4d
> 
> u/phastasm called it. It was only a matter of time before the shippers showed up. Would you kindly take your fangirling back to tumblr?
> 
> . . . ←Reply ▲ 10 ▼
> 
> [-] ReyofLight · 3d
> 
> How about instead you get used to enjoying the story Far Galaxy is telling and stop harassing those of us who've liked it from the start.
> 
> . . . ←Reply ▲ 35 ▼
>
>> [-] GenerallyHux · 3d
>
>> This sub used to be fun before it devolved into a playground for the types who think a serial killer makes for a good romance. Abuse fetish much?
>
>> . . . ←Reply ▲ -2 ▼
>
>> [-] FN-2187· 3d
>> 
>> That’s rich coming from the dude making Executor is Dark!Revan videos and stalking a girl’s handle to comment on everything she writes. The only reason you haven’t stolen rey’s content is because you can’t monetize off of it without upsetting your darling audience of GGers hating on wimmenz in your vidya games.
>> 
>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 17 ▼
>>
>>> [-] [deleted: GenerallyHux] · 3d
>>
>>> [this post has been deleted]
>> 
>> [-] TicoTock · 3d
>> 
>> bite me you pasty little bitch silennia is canon theres no way he’s not getting redeemed  
>  . . . ←Reply ▲ -3 ▼
>>
>>> [-] **KyloRen** ⬟ · **Mod - HunterKiller** · 3d
>>
>>> u/GenerallyHux u/ReyofLight u/TicoTock u/FN-2187 this is your first warning. I don’t think I need to remind any of you of the Subreddit Rules on flaming. Take it offline.
>>
>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 13 ▼
>> 
>> [-] StarkillerBot · 2d
>> 
>> Did someone say offline? We have a convenient Discord server for all your Starkiller needs. Join us at . . . 

 

* * *

 

Rey watches Ben’s face as it goes through several interesting stages of shock from beneath lowered lashes and thinks “haha, gotcha!” with no small measure of pride.

She’s been trying to get a metaphysical leg over on this douche for _ages_ now and watching him squirm and die inside is bringing her more joy than anything she’s ever experienced up until this point in her life.

The truth is that for all her bluster and bravado, while she’s not a complete novice, Rey’s not _actually_ quite the sexual savant that she’s playing at. She has _at least_ enough experience to feel pretty confident playing the part and besides, it’s easy enough to imagine herself in Millennia’s dominatrix boots (she’s quite literally walked several miles in them today) and that’s certainly enough to bolster whatever confidence she might otherwise be lacking under normal circumstances.

And judging by the _fascinating_ colors that Ben is turning, he doesn’t exactly have enough experience to draw on himself that she need feel intimidated by him.

 _Probably a virgin,_ she thinks to herself, with vicious glee.

That last biting thought might have pushed her luck just a little to far though, because it seems like the cosmic balance slowly begins to tip back in the other direction. There’s a sudden look of intense interest on Ben’s face, like she’s a new puzzle that he’s trying to figure out. He bites his plush bottom lip and _oh_ , that’s interesting.

 _Was it always warm in here,_ Rey wonders, suddenly feeling a little suffocated in all of her armor.

“Really?” He asks, slowly, voice a deep bass rumble, “Anyone?”

Rey juts her chin out. In for a penny, in for a pound as the saying goes; she’s come too far to back down and lose this game of chicken now.

“Yep,” she says, with false confidence. “Some of us don’t have the handicap of a horrible personality keeping us from getting laid.”

Ben makes a face at her before scanning around the room.

“So you think you could seduce… that guy over there?” He says, gesturing to a man dressed like Alexander Hamilton.

“Easy,” Rey fires back.

‘What about the waitress?” Ben goads.

“She’s cute, and I don’t discriminate.”

“Hux?” Ben narrows his eyes.

Rey glances over her shoulder to where Poe is essentially just making Hux drink shots of hot sauce at this point and sticks her tongue out.

“Ew gross, but I could if I wanted to,” her gaze slides back to meet Ben’s and she leans forwards a little, elbows resting on the table, “Anyway, I’m pretty sure he’s done something shameful with Poe so his standards can’t be that high. Give me a real challenge.”

There’s a pause between them, just a beat where their gazes are locked and Rey feels something _throb_  between her thighs because Ben has this _look_ in his eyes like he wants to fucking _take her apart_ and she’s weirdly starting to think that… she might kind of want that too.

“What about someone more discerning? What about me?” Ben asks and _yup_ , okay Rey gets a full-body shiver at the implication of this.

Because this is KyloRen. And she _hates_ him.

But he’s also like… weirdly, unfairly hot. And it’s dawning on Rey that for all her bluffing, it _really_ has been quite some time since she got laid, seeing as she _has_ been too busy gaming and writing fic to actually care much about dating.

She licks her lips.

“I literally just told you that I wrote a story where Millennia ties Silencer up and fucks the villainy out of him… you really sure you want to get into this with me?” she asks, and her voice is a lot more husky than it was two seconds ago.

Ben’s eyes are so hot that they’re going to melt her alive where she sits. Just a Waffle House cushion covered in a metallic pool straight out of Terminator 2.

“Yeah,” he says, “yeah, I’m pretty fucking sure.”

Rey closes her eyes and counts to five. Then opens them and gives Ben Solo a really, _really_ thorough once over.

Pros: he’s the size of a city bus and looks like he could carry her off like a caveman which is _super_ doing it for her lizard brain right now. He’s also currently dressed like her favorite fantasy fodder and she’d be lying _big time_ if she said that the idea of having sex with someone while they’re dressed like the trash husband of her OTP _wasn’t_ on her bucket list.

Cons: he’s _KyloRen_.

 _Oh what the fuck,_ she thinks, _it’s Dragon*Con. If you’re gonna make a mistake, it might as well be a really,_ really _big one._

She gives him a feral grin and stands up.

“Alright,” she says, “Your room or mine?”

 

* * *

  

> [-] MTKA · 3d
> 
> I leave for like 2 minutes to airbrush my Phoenix armor and the fandom is eating itself alive again. If this isn’t a Starkiller mood.
> 
> . . . ←Reply ▲ 13 ▼
>
>> [-] TicoTock · 3d
>> 
>> You and me both. 
>> 
>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 10 ▼
>> 
>> [-] FN-2187 · 3d
>> 
>> You better share some images of that build for all of us when it’s done. I gave up on Fang after my heat gun went a little too hot and melted my Worbla. Or maybe I just got distracted by someone’s beach costume . . . *wipes sweat from brow*
>> 
>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 3 ▼
>>
>>> [-] MTKA · 2d
>>> 
>>> EVA is the way to go, bro.
>>> 
>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 2 ▼
>> 
>> [-] phastasm · 2d
>> 
>> Does this mean you’re coming naked to the con, rebel scum?
>> 
>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 2 ▼
>>
>>> [-] FN-2187 · 1d
>>> 
>>> Wouldn’t you like to know, chrome dome.
>>> 
>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 2 ▼
>>
>>> [-] GenerallyHux · 2d
>>> 
>>> Oh god the traitor wishes.
>>> 
>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 2 ▼
>>
>>> [-] poehotdameron · 2d
>>> 
>>> You all really need to stop being thirsty on main.
>>> 
>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 45 ▼
>>>
>>>> [-] GenerallyHux · 2h
>>>> 
>>>> I am revisiting this post purely to point out that YOU'RE the one in a Waffle House at 3am making strangers take shots of Tapatio so I don't think you have any room to talk about thirst of ANY kind for the rest of your life, short as that may be.
>>>> 
>>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 2 ▼
>>>>
>>>>> [-] TicoTock · 2h
>>>>> 
>>>>> Witness me.
>>>>> 
>>>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 3 ▼
>>>>> 
>>>>> [-] testor · 2h
>>>>> 
>>>>> I love you guys but this thread is now off-topic. Mods?
>>>>> 
>>>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 4 ▼ 

 

* * *

 

The fact that they make it back to Ben’s room without touching each other inappropriately is something of a goddamn miracle, honestly. He’s pretty sure he’s never been this hard in his _entire life_ and he’s certainly never been this excited to get into bed with someone as he is with Rey.

Maybe it’s the fact that they both still hate each other a little. It might be the fact that she’s the hottest girl he’s ever met, like _for real_. Then there’s the fact that she brazenly and without a shred of shame told him _exactly what she’s into_ and all but dared him to provide it for her.

She’s unraveling his sanity faster than a ball of yarn rolling down a hill.

By the time they’re crammed into the elevator up to his room in the Marriott with what feels like half of the eighty-thousand some Dragon*Con attendees, the pressure of Rey’s armor-clad ass against his groin is nearly enough to have him seeing stars.

It doesn’t even occur to him until he’s fumbling to get his room card out of his pocket that he hadn’t even bothered to tell his friends where he and Rey were going, nor had he actually paid his bill.

Ben really can’t even bring himself to care at this point.

They stumble into the room, nearly tripping over Phasma’s rolling bag and Hux’s cardboard box of vintage Doctor Who collectibles, just barely managing to remain on their feet by hanging onto each other. He flips on lights as they stumble through the space, illuminating the chaos of the suite with a soft yellow glow.

“Help me with my armor buckles,” Rey commands him. “I worked too hard on this suit to have it get messed up because you decide to play rough.”

She holds her hand out and Ben dutifully begins undoing buckles and straps, pulling Rey’s armor off of her piece-by-piece until she’s standing there in a silver undersuit and her stiletto heels. It’s the weirdest stripping routine he’s ever been a part of but damn if it isn’t working for him.

Ben goes to reach for her zipper with trembling fingers but Rey stills his hand.

“Nope,” she says, “You wanted to play this game so we’re gonna play it right.”

She pushes him back so that he finds himself seated on (thankfully his) queen bed with a bounce. They haven't even kissed yet and Ben is literally about to die, blood rushing from his head to his cock.

“Rey,” he says, and his voice is so _whiny_ even to his own ears that it makes him cringe.

“KyloRen,” Rey responds, as she steps between his legs and begins undoing his buckles and belts, freeing him of his own armor, until she gets to the net of tactical webbing and decorative straps that rests under his chest piece just above his own undersuit.

She gives it an experimental tug and, apparently judging it sturdy enough, pulls it up until it catches at his wrists and then it’s going _behind his head and his arms are pinned to his back._

Ben fucking forgets how to breathe.

He theoretically _could_ escape, if he _really_ wanted to… but... _Does_ he really want to?

 _Not in a million years,_ he thinks.

“You’ve been quite an ass to me, you know,” Rey says as she begins unzipping his undersuit. “Haven’t you?”

And at her prompting, Ben finally breaks free of his stunned stupor enough to stammer out, “Yes.”

“And now you want to sleep with me?” Rey says in a haughty voice that _should_ be so grating but instead is turning his insides to liquid fire. “Why should I let you?”

“I’m… uh… I’m really sorry,” Ben gasps out, as Rey’s delicate hands (hands which have written _so much filthy, filthy porn_ his useless brain reminds him) flutter across the jumping muscles of his abdomen, raking through the trail of dark hair she finds there, just above the place where his dick is straining against his undersuit for attention.

“What are you sorry about?” she asks, tilting his chin up with one finger so that he’s looking her in the eyes.

“I’m sorry for treating you… ah like a second class – god, _Rey,_ you’re _killing me –_ citizen. You’re fucking brilliant and I’ll never do it again, please just touch me,” and, yeah, Ben's just flat out begging now. That’s where he’s found himself at and he can’t even be bothered to be upset about it.

“And do you promise that you will _never, ever_ be a shit to someone just because you think shipping is below you as an  _intellectual_   _ever again_?” she asks, regal brows raised.

Ben nearly chokes. He wants to say that this is _not_ the time or place for this conversation, and he’s _never heard dirty talk like this before in his life and that’s just not how it works but–_

Instead he just finds himself nodding, wide-eyed and solemn as if he’s signing away his soul.

“Never,” he gasps out, “I promise.”

Rey’s hazel eyes search his for a long second and then she finally gives him a nod and reaches around to undo the straps holding his wrists behind him.

As soon as his hands are free, Ben is on her _._ He pulls Rey down and surges up to meet her simultaneously so that he can capture her mouth with his own while tugging her body into proper contact with his own. Her knees his the mattress, caging one of his thighs.

They both let out long, shuddering moans as he grinds the hardness between his legs into the damp fabric of her undersuit.

And _well_ , if the fact that she’s so wet for him that he can literally feel it through _at least_ four layers of fabric isn’t enough of an ego boost, there’s the way she crawls up his body, shoving the remainder of his undersuit off of his torso as he works her zipper down, desperate for some skin on skin contact.

Of course, there are yet _more_ barriers before he can get what he’s after. Ben really should have remembered from the one and only time he ever tried having cosplay sex before that it is _always_ way more complicated than it should be because there are _always_ stupid undergarments involved.

In Rey’s case it’s _another fucking bodysuit under her bodysuit._

Ben’s so out of his mind that he starts wondering about his witch theory from earlier and if he hasn't just been seduced by a whole lot of living shapewear with a sassy attitude.

But eventually they’re both stripped down to their skivvies and his brain just fucking thunders to a halt as he catches his first real look at Rey, underneath the Millennia get-up.

She’s tan and freckled all over, with pale bathing suit outlines that speak to a summer filled with poolside fun. Her breasts are small and firm, tipped with dusky pink nipples, and not even the criss-crossed lines left across her skin by her many layers of bodysuits can detract from how _gorgeous_ she is.

Ben can’t even believe this is really happening.

She’s wearing a pair of white seamless panties and he can see the dark shade of the hair at the apex of her thighs just peeking through the sheer fabric.

He palms himself through his boxer briefs, trying to regain some sort of control once more as he tosses the last of his costume pieces off the edge of the bed without an ounce of care, and scoots back up towards the headboard, fishing around one-handed for the box of condoms that Hux had very optimistically set on the nightstand on day one. Until this very moment, said box has not so much as moved.

Ben rips the box open, pulling out a foil packet, before divesting himself of his boxer-briefs, and looking up to meet Rey’s appraising gaze. He doesn’t even feel a fraction of the weirdness or shame that he’s pretty sure he _should_ be feeling in this scenario. All he feels is powerful, forceful attraction and desire for the woman in front of him that eclipses literally everything he’s ever felt for anyone else in his entire life up to this point.

“Rey, please, get up here _now_ or you are going to kill me,” he says, eliciting a laugh from her.

“You know, two hours ago, that would have sounded a lot more tempting than it does right now,” she says, propping her hands on her hips.

“And now?” he asks, rolling his eyes as he squeezes his dick, just trying to keep a handle on his shit.

Rey’s only response is to slide her underwear down her hips before climbing up the bed to join him.

She helps him roll the condom down his cock and Ben nearly comes on the spot. He manages to hold off by biting his lip, and focusing all of his attention on stroking his fingers between her legs, exploring the wet heat he finds there and the way he can make her shudder and moan and _tremble_ by running his thumb over the nub of her clit. Ben can tell the moment he gets it right by the way her hands reach out to clamp down on his shoulders and her mouth falls open with a little gasp of pleasure.

Rey pushes him flat back on the bed, raising herself up above him. She takes hold of his cock to guide him inside of her body and as Ben finds himself fully enveloped and surrounded by the burning heat and pressure of her, he can’t for the _fucking life of him_ remember why he ever hated her _._

“Ben!” She gasps out, a breathy, almost shocked sound, as he slides fully home inside of her. The view from where he lays is unrivaled by literally anything else that he’s ever seen. Rey is a fucking goddess above him, reaching down to thread her fingers through his hair and running them over his chest. Her tits bounce every time she shifts or moves, and he cant help but reach up to thumb over her nipples, enjoying the way they perk up under his questing hands.

He bucks up into her body, marveling both at the way surprised pleasure radiates like fireworks across Rey’s entire face and also the sweet, sweet relief of finally moving within her. It takes them a few seconds to find a rhythm that works but before long they’re moving together, and it’s _perfect._

His hand dips back between her legs as he tugs her back down for another kiss.

Ben is sure he’s leaving fingerprint bruises on her hips from the pressure of holding on. Rey sucks a bruise so high up on his throat that he doesn’t stand a chance in hell of hiding it tomorrow. Or next week, when he has to go back to fucking work.

He doesn’t even care.

It doesn’t take much longer for his vision to begin going fuzzy around the edges and then, _and then_ , he’s careening over the edge. With another swipe of his careful fingers, he feels Rey come tumbling after him.

They lay, tangled together for a very long while, just breathing and touching each other, while the sweat dries and they come back to themselves.

“So,” Rey says, at last, rolling off of him, and scooting over to lay on her side on the mattress.

“So,” Ben replies, rolling over to mirror her. He still feels shell-shocked by this whole experience, like his entire world has been tilted on its axis, but not in a bad way. Silence falls between them again as they continue to lay there and just _stare_ like two aliens encountering each other for the first time.

“You know…” he says at last, “I guess there’s just one last thing I don’t really get.”

“Hmm, what’s that?” Rey asks, stretching out so that her spine pops a few times.

“Why of _all_ the possible relationships in StarKiller are you so attached to Silencer and Millennia? He’s a… villain and she’s… she’s…”

 _He’s like me,_ Ben thinks, _a jackass who gets angry and fucks everything up. And you’re… not like that. Could you ever like someone like that – like me – for real?_ He wants to ask, but he doesn’t really know how so he just trails off.

Rey’s lips quirk up.

“See,” she says, “the thing about fiction is that it gives us hope. If I can see a way for Silencer to get his shit together, for him and Milly to wind up on the same team, well, maybe there’s hope for the redemption of you know… _difficult_ people in real life too.”

And it’s so very much an echo of the thing that Ben had just been thinking that it sends him spinning.

He has no idea how to respond so he just leans in and kisses her. The taste of sugar and chocolate and peanut butter still lingers on her lips and he’s pretty sure that he’s never going to be able to look at waffles without getting turned on ever again.

“I’m… I don’t have Silencer’s Helmet yet,” Ben says, hesitantly, “it didn’t come in in time, but I’ll hopefully have it by GalaCon this year. If you’re going… uh… maybe we could… you know…”

Rey grins at him.

“Keep the helmet on?” She asks.

Ben can feel himself blushing to the roots of his fucking hair. His _toes_ are probably red at this point.

“Yeah, you know… your fic was like two hundred thousand words… I feel like our story still has plenty of room to grow.”

Rey laughs and laughs until Ben pulls her back in and kisses her senseless.

“I’m going to make you read my metas now, you know,” she says, when he finally lets her go, “and also my fanfiction.”

Ben’s lips tug up into a little, lopsided grin.

“Somehow, I’m finding that prospect a lot less distressing than I would have earlier today. You’re a very good negotiator.”

Rey just gives him a thousand watt smile.

“So it would appear,” she says.

There’s a brief pause then she looks up at him with raised eyebrows.

“How funny, though, to think that all it took for us to work all our shit out was just a Waffle House and some good old fashioned angry sex?” She asks.

Ben just shakes his head. He has a funny feeling that no matter where this relationship goes, it’s going to be filled with new and surprising (and _utterly_ unexplainable shit) from start to finish.

And for the first time ever, Ben thinks that sounds just fine to him.

* * *

  

> [this post has been deleted]
> 
> [-] MTKA · 1h30m
> 
> Hey you fucking dipshitss, Tico of the Resistance here. Ban my ass if you want to but since Mitaka is currently puking in a Waffle House bathroom in the middle of downtown Atlanta and I just watched u/ReyofLight leave with ur precious u/KyloRen apparently to get fucking laid in Milennia and Silencer cosplay straight out of my fave fan comic I’m just gonna take this opportunity to tell you all that my fucking ship is FUCKing canon and all you bitches can suck it. You gatekeeping mealymouthed motherfuckers can go die in a tire fire and self-immolate in your private discord servers you don’t lets us into because we said the word “silennia” one time we’re coming for you and ur precious canon. Have a NSFW art and a big fuck you. Also fire Kyle’s ass he’s so miserable he’s fucking the enemy.] . . . ←Reply ▲ 4 ▼
> 
> [-] MTKA · 1h
> 
> OH GOD IM SO SORRY. Seriously mods shes just drunk and took my phone don’t ban me I still have to post pics from con. Thx. Pls delete this thread.
> 
> . . . ←Reply ▲ 1 ▼
> 
> [-] phastasm · 1h
> 
> Your mods can’t save you now. Where the fuck is u/GenerallyHux?
> 
> . . . ←Reply ▲ 1 ▼ 
>
>> [-] MTKA · 1h
>> 
>> u/GenerallyHux you’re not responding to your phone, will you respond to the threat of a banhammer for being partially responsible for this? Are you with u/poehotdameron?
>> 
>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 1 ▼
>> 
>>  
>>
>>> [-] poehotdameron · 1h
>>> 
>>> Give him about an hour ;) he should have... recovered by then... maybe ;))) .
>>> 
>>> . . . ←Reply ▲ 2 ▼

 

* * *

 

The End

**Author's Note:**

> The big novel quote that Ben posts in one of his Reddit threads is from the Mathew Stover novelization of Revenge of the Sith!
> 
> As always please feel free to come shout at me (Enterprisingly) on [my twitter](https://twitter.com/commandercait) or to go give Cyborgharpy all the love on [her twitter](https://twitter.com/ashesforfoxes). If you enjoyed this fic, kudos, comments, and shares are always appreciated!


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